


Worth Saying

by Huggle



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Dean is a Little Shit, Forehead Kisses, Gen, Hurt Castiel, Platonic Kissing, Protective Sam Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 22:05:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6677131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huggle/pseuds/Huggle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean never knows when he's gone too far, which is how Sam ends up in a bathtub with Castiel while trying to clean the angel's wings.  But it gives Sam a chance to reach out to Cas and tell him the things he knows Dean won't - not because he doesn't want to but because he can't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worth Saying

“Will you just...look, Castiel, this will be a lot easier if you just hold still!” Sam winced at the frustration bleeding into his voice, but this was about as difficult as he’d expected.

He was kneeling in the tub with Castiel, boxers clinging like a second skin, rubbing detergent into the angel’s wings. Fuck Dean and his stupid practical jokes. _Hey, Cas is nearly human now – let’s show him how to prank somebody. Properly. It’ll take his mind off his woes._

Dean seemed to forget that his pranks had a way of going spectacularly awry. Sam wasn’t going to forget the trip to the ER to get his hand unglued from that beer bottle. That had held them up on a hunt. Not mention left him with achy stiff fingers for a couple of days.

This was so beyond that, he could barely resist the urge to stomp downstairs and thump Dean in the face.

Castiel sighed, but Sam could tell he was uncomfortable. He stretched the right wing out a little further, and Sam echoed his dismay. The stains were worse than he’d thought. Several of the lower feathers were blue altogether, covered with the dye. What the hell had Dean been thinking?

He rubbed a handful of soap over the worst parts, glad to see the colour was lifting albeit slowly. Castiel slumped a little, and Sam raised up a little to support him. He slid an arm around the angel’s waist. “Hey. Hey, Cas, you alright?”

“No,” Castiel said. “This will take several hours to put right. I’m uncomfortable, I’m wet and my wings hurt. I do not see why Dean finds this so amusing.”

Sam grimaced. “Because he’s a dick. It’s nothing personal. Look, if it helps any, he only pranks the people he cares about. Ask him to tell you about the time he put those foaming at the mouth tablets in Bobby’s beer. He usually realises too late when he’s gone too far.” Not that he’d ever admit it.

He moved up the wing, cleaning each feather as best he could, and then had Castiel spread out his other wing. Sam wondered how long Castiel would still have wings for. Given that even the sight of any part of Cas’s true form should have caused blindness, it wasn’t a good sign that Sam could actually touch them without any ill effect, never mind see them. 

Maybe that was more the cause of Castiel’s despondency than Dean’s stupid sense of humour. Every day he seemed to slip a little further towards humanity, and Sam was not looking forward to seeing the angel finally fall all the way. Especially not when he knew that they, the Winchesters, were responsible.

He couldn’t help it, then. He reached forward, and pressed an awkward kiss to Castiel’s temple.

Castiel twisted around in the tub, almost knocking Sam over with a wing. “Sam?”

Sam could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. “Uh...sorry, I don’t even know why I did that. Just...Cas, you know we’re gonna take care of you, right?”

Castiel gave him a faint smile, the kind parents gave when they’re humouring children for saying something sweet but silly. The kind family might when they know they’re hearing a promise that just can’t be kept.

“I mean it,” Sam said. “Cas, we’re not gonna cut you lose.”

“Of course not, Sam,” Cas said, and flexed his left wing, a subtle hint that it was still stained.

Sam went back to cleaning it, ignoring the burn of tears. Of course Castiel wouldn’t believe him. They were all making sacrifices, but Castiel was paying the biggest price. And he got the least thanks because Dean was so focused on the Apocalypse, so out of touch with his feelings he couldn’t bring himself to actually let the Angel know that he mattered.

Sam carefully folded Castiel’s wings away, took hold of his shoulders, and turned him around in the tub. He kissed him on the forehead and then put his arms around him. “I know we haven’t done much to make you believe it, but we’re in this together. You matter as much as any of us, Cas, and whatever happens we are going to watch out for you.”

It took a few moments, but Cas hugged him back. “I believe that you’ll try,” he said.

Sam couldn’t bring himself to let go.


End file.
